Garment hanger



March 1, 1960 Filed April 7, 1954 T. A. ST. CLAIR 2,926,824

GARMENT HANGER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Hu Ill 8 [\"ul 1;)

INVENTOR. THEODORE A. $7. CLA/R My, Q/W L A TTDENfYS March 1, 1960 T. A. s-r. CLAIR GARMENT HANGER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 7, 1954 INVENTOR. THEODORE A 5 7: CL A (R BY fE/c H15); WA 7-725, 506E)? TON8'I75/VEN/V) ATTORNEYS UnitedStates Patent 2,926,824. GARMENT HANGER Theodore A. St. Clair, Cleveland, Ohio Application April 7, 1954, Serial No. 421,512 8 Claims. (Cl. 223-95 that when the garment is applied to the hanger, the weight of the garment and the over-lapping thereof provides a frictional grip which is proportional to the weight applied, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a preferred form of the garment hanger mounted and wall bracket made according to my invention; b

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the plane indicated atZ-ZinFig. 1; b b

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the first step in securing a pair of pants to the garment hanger; p b

Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the second step in the use of the garment hanger; I j

Fig. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a third step in the use of the device; j i i Fig. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a fourth step in the use of the device;

Fig. 7 illustrates a fifth step in the use of the garment hanger;

Fig. 8 is an elevation with parts in section showing a modified form of my invention;

Fig. 9 is an elevation with parts in section showing the modified form and takenalong the plane indicated at 9-+9 of Fig. 8; and,

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of another form of mount ing for the hangers according to this invention.

Inthe preferred form of my invention, heavy gauge wire stock is bent to provide a pair of parallel spaced bars as at 5 and 6, jointed to each other as at 7. The lower bar 6 is provided with an integrally formed offset bracket engaging portion 3. The spacing of the bars 5 and 6 is such that at least four thicknesses of conventional suit fabric may be received in the U-shaped opening between the two bars; and for purposes of illustration, I have shown a pair of pants as at 9 arranged on the garment hanger. Cloth has a relatively high co-efficient of sliding friction between layersand this resistance to slid ing is utilized by this invention to prevent the garment from falling off the hanger. As best seen in Fig. 2, wherein a pair of pants is shown hanging on adevice according to this'invention, the fabric of the garment 9 is looped over the bar 5 and extends downward past the bar. 6. t In the'hangirlg operation, which will be described in detail later, the garment is arranged so that all the layers of fabric pass to one side of the bar 6 so that the portion of the fabric 9b adjacent to the cuff 9a engages the hanging portion 9c at 9d. An inspection of the drawings will show that the greater the force pulling down on the hanging portion 90 will result in proportionally greater engaging forces between the hanging portion and the portion of the fabric adjacent to the cuff 9b and in turn greater frictional force's. For this reasoh,

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. the weight of the garment and the stiffness of'the material used to form the hanger. This deflecting when it occurs operates to assist in the gripping of the garment since the narrowing of the space between the upperand lower bars tends to increase-the engaging forces between the portions 915 and 9c thereby increasing the frictional engagement and also since there tends to be a pinching action between the clothes and the bars. j

To apply the garment 9 to the hanger, the bars 5 and 6 are disposed in the same horizontal .plane as illustrated in Fig. .3, and the pants 9 and the garment hanger, are movedrelative to each other so as to position the pants 9 as illustrated in Fig. 4. Thereafter, the cuff portion 9a of the pants is folded down over the bar 5 as illustrated in Fig. 5. The offset end 8 is then manually rotated upwardly relative to the garment while the axes of the bars 5 and 6 remain horizontal to the position shown in Fig. 6, and is thereafter further rotated to the position shown in Fig. 7, which position it will be noted is generally in the same plane as Fig. 3 but with the portion 8 swung through 180 degrees' The portion 8 is thereafter further turned degrees in the same direction as indicated by the arrows 5a, 6a, and 7a in Figs. 5 to 7 u n til the portion 8 depends vertically from the bar 6 at which it can be inserted in the wall bracket as shown in Fig. 1. In this form of wall bracket 9. pair of horizontally extendingflanges ll and 12 are apertur'ed as at 14 and 15 respectively. Preferably, the bracket 10 is provided with a series of vertically aligned apertures 14 and 15 so asto receive a plurality of garment-hangers inade accordingto this invention. The aperture 14 in the upper flange of the bracket is of a key hole shape having its least dimension near the forward edge of the flange 11: and the opening in the lower flange is a notch having its least dimension remote from the forward edge of the lower flange 12. The apertures 14 and 15 thus formed facilitate the application of the garment hanger to the'bracket 10 and at the same time provide a rotatable'inounting for the offset portion 8 so that it mayjrotate about a vertical axis. The weight of the hanger tends to hold the portion 8 in' the apertures 14 and 15. The pivotal mount ing of the garment hanger on the bracket permits a rack loaded with garments to accommodate a numbero'f garments in compact over-lapped relation close to the wall which supports the bracket. It also permits "each individual garment to swing freely out and away fromthe wall, rendering each of the garments easily accessible.

The vertical spacing between the upper and lower openings 14 and 15 in the bracket, restrains the offsetportion 3 against pivotal movement in response to the eccentric load applied to the hanger by the garment. It will be observed from Fig. 2 that the wrapping of the garment about the upper bar 5 with both portions of the garment at one side of the vertical plane of the two bars 5 and 6 exerts an overturning force and would, in the absence of the restraint imposed on the end 8, turn the garment hanger bodily about a horizontal axis.

To remove the garment from the hanger, operation illustrated in Figs. 3 to 7 is reversed and when the garment hanger is restored to the position of Fig. 3, there is no gripping effect upon the garment and it may be freely withdrawn from the U-shaped space between the parallel bars.

In some installations, such. as for example, in hotels and the like, it may be desirable to mount the garment hanger made according to my invention so that the supporting bars of the hanger cannot beremoved from the bracket. Since the manipulation of the parallel bars requires the bodily rotation in a horizontal plane, I have provided the modification shown in Figs. 8 and 9 for the permanent type of installation. In this modified form, the parallel bars 20 and21 are secured to each other at ne end, and in this instance are secured to each other through the medium of a metal disc 22. The connected ends as at 23 and 24 may be welded or otherwise permanently fixed to the disc 22. The bracket 25 is mounted on the wall by screws or the like, as at 2.6 and the central portion 25a of the bracket 25 is offset from the wall and apertured as at 28. The aperture 28 is preferably of the key hole shape having its minimum dimension as at 29 near the lower edge of the offset portion 25a of the wall bracket.

The minimum dimension area 29 of the aperture is proportioned to snugly receive the connected ends of the parallel bars 20 and 21 as shown in Fig. 8. This proportioning prevents rotation of the bars 20 and 21 when they are disposed in the same vertical plane in the area 29. When it is desired to apply or remove a garment to or from the bars 20 and 21, the garment hanger is manually moved vertically from the smaller dimension area 29 into the larger dimension area, which larger area permits the bodily rotation of the hanger as illustrated at the right hand end of Fig. 8. The disc 22 is proportioned with respect to the aperture 28 so as to have its diameter exceed the diameter of the aperture 28. Thus in the raised position of the garment hanger, it may be freely rotated to positions corresponding to those illustrated in Figs. 3 to 7 of the preferred embodiment and yet the garment hanger may not be bodily removed from the wall'bracket. 'In operation, this embodiment of the gripping function is the same as previously described.

In the form of mounting block shown in Fig. 10, the block 41 is formed with cross bores which receive the screws 43 used to fasten the block to the wall or door surface 44. The block is also provided with a vertical bore 46 for each hanger which is to be mounted on the block having a diameter adapted to receive the hanger stock. The use of this mounting block is much the same as the mounting fixture as shown in Fig. 1 in that the pants orother garment put on the hanger in the manner described and the portion 8 of the hanger is inserted into the vertical bores thereby securely mounting the hanger.

Not only are all the forms of hanger disclosed easy to manufacture, but they also provide for simple hanging of the garment since in all cases, it is merely-necessary to move the garment horizontally relative to the hanger to position the garment between the two bars and 6 and rotate the bars to complete the hanging operation.

Although the supporting bracket in both forms of the device'is referred to as a wall bracket and is shown as being flat for attachment to a wall, it will be understood that it may be curved or circular so as to be mounted on a post or pedestal. Although I have described my invention in considerable detail and illustrated two forms of the invention, it will be understood that modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A garment hanger comprising a bracket having spaced parallel horizontally disposed flanges, each of said flanges being provided with vertically aligned apertures, a garment engaging member comprising a length of wire stock bent in a U-shape to provide a pair of parallel vertically spaced bars connected to each other by means of an integrally formed bend, said bendmaintaining said bars spaced apart throughout their lengths the lower bar having a length exceeding the length of the upper bar of said pair and having an offset end portion 4 r normal to the horizontal axis of the lower bar removably disposed in the aligned apertures of said bracket.

2. A garment hanger comprising a bracket having spaced parallel horizontally disposed portions provided with vertically aligned apertures, a garment engaging member comprising a length of round wire stock bent in a U-shape to provide two parallel vertically spaced bars connected to each other at one end by means of an integrally formed bend, said bend maintaining said bars spaced apart throughout their lengths, the lower bar having a length exceeding the length of the upper bar and having an offset end portion normal to the horizontal axis of the lower bar pivotally mounted in the apertures of said bracket for swinging the bars horizontally, said offset end portion being readily removable from said bracket to permit said bars to be moved into position spanning a garment and thereafter rotated to suspend the garment from said upper bar.

3. A garment hanger comprising a bracket having a vertical plate provided with a key hole aperture with the minimum area of the aperture lowermost, a pair of vertically spaced horizontally disposed bars secured to each other at one end and having the secured ends extending into said key hole aperture, the width of the minimum area of said aperture being less than twice the diameter of the bar portions extending into the minimum area of said aperture and the diameter of the maximum area of said aperture being greater than twice the diameter of said bars whereby the bars may be raised vertically from said minimum area and rotated within said maximum area to facilitate'the application of a garment to the bars.

4. A garment hanger comprising a bracket having a vertical section provided with a vertically disposed key hole aperture with the minimum area of the aperture lowermost, a pair of vertically spaced horizontally disposed bars bent towards each other and secured to each other at one end and having the secured ends extending horizontally into said key hole aperture, the width of the minimum area of said aperture being less than twice the maximum diameter of the bar portions extending into the minimum area of said aperture and the diameter of the maximum area of said aperture being greater than twice the diameter of said bars whereby the bars may be raised vertically from said minimum area and rotated within said maximum area to facilitate the application of a garment to the bars, a disc secured to the ends of said bars projecting into the key hole aperture,the maximum diameter of the disc exceeding the maximum diameter of the aperture to prevent withdrawal of the bars from the bracket.

5. A garment hanger comprising a horizontally disposed lower bar, a horizontally disposed upper bar spaced vertically with respect to the lower bar with the longitudinal axis of the upper bar in the same vertical plane as the longitudinal axis of the lower bar, said upper bar being mounted on one end thereof to one end of the lower bar and being free therefrom at the other end, a garment wrapped about the upper bar both ends of which passbythe lower bar on one side thereof, and a supporting bracket operatively engaging said one end of said bars, said operative engagement with the bracket including vertically disposed inter-locking portions on the bracket and bars preventing rotation of the bar about a horizontal axis with respect to the bracket.

6. A garment hanger comprising a horizontally disposed lower bar, a horizontally disposed upper bar spaced vertically with respect to the lower bar with'the longitudinal axis of the upper bar in the same vertical plane as the longitudinal axis of the lower bar, said upper bar being mounted on one end thereof to one end of the lower bar and being free therefrom at the other end, a garment wrapped about the upper bar both ends of said garment passing by the lower bar on one side thereof, and a supporting bracket operatively engaging the other end of said lower bar, said operative engagement with the bracket including vertically spaced inter-engageable portions on the bracket and bars adapted to be engaged to prevent rotation of the bars about a horizontal axis with respect to the bracket, said inter-engageable portions being releasable to permit rotation of the bars about a horizontal axis.

7. A garment hanger having a bracket and a garment engaging member, said garment engaging member comprising a horizontally disposed lower bar, a horizontally disposed upper bar spaced vertically with respect to the lower bar and with the longitudinal axis of the upper bar substantially in the same vertical plane as the longitudinal axis of the lower bar, said upper bar secured at one end thereof to one end of the lower bar whereby the upper bar is supported from one end thereof, at least one of said bars at one end thereof engaging the bracket and supported thereby, said support including vertically spaced inter-engageable portions of the bracket and at least one of the bars preventing rotation of the bars about a horizontal axis with respect to the bracket, said interengageable portions being separable to permit such rotation.

8. A garment hanger having a bracket and a garment engaging member, said garment engaging member comprising a horizontally disposed lower bar, a horizontally disposed upper bar spaced vertically with respect to the lower bar with the longitudinal axis of the upper bar in the same vertical plane as the longitudinal axis of the lower bar, said upper bar being mounted on one end thereof to one end of the lower bar and being free therefrom at the other end, one of said bars being supported at an end thereof in operative engagement with the bracket, said support including vertically spaced interengageable portions of the support and bar preventing rotation of the bar about a horizontal axis with respect to the support, said inter-engageable portions being movable to permit such rotation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,087,450 Knox Feb. 17, 1914 1,097,755 Goldsmith May 26, 1914 1,240,611 Smith Sept. 18, 1917 1,763,318 OBrien June 10, 1930 1,782,828 Mosgrove Nov. 25, 1930 2,222,232 McOsker Nov. 19, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS 468,733 Canada Oct. 17, 1950 

